Small Town Whispers

Another Daughter Appears

We'd love to hear from you! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/fan_mail/new] A wound that vanishes by sundown. A dining room cleared like a stage. Twelve chairs set in a circle with one seat left empty and untouchable. I’m taking you back to Watseka, Illinois and the Roff House, where the final seance begins to form around Lurancy Vennum with a level of planning that feels equal parts family gathering and ritual. Before the lamps are turned down, I share something personal: how fear and perfectionism kept me from publishing creative work for years, and why finishing this season matters to me. Then we return to the pages of Watseka as Mary directs the room, assigns seats like a clock face, and insists on absolute trust. A small basin of water appears, a protective charm is brought into the circle, and the group joins hands as Lurancy slips into stillness. What follows is why this story has never let go of people. A new voice breaks through, and it’s not subtle. Two brand new voices appear out of thin air, seeking through Lurancy. Tune in to her channel in this episode. If you’ve been following this Watseka possession and exorcism journey, this chapter is the hinge that swings everything forward. Subscribe, share Small Town Whispers with a friend who loves paranormal history, and leave a rating and review so more listeners can find the show. And if you’ve got a story of your own, email Porchlight Whispers at gmail.com or message the Small Town Whispers Facebook page. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/support] If this show resonates with you, please hit follow, share it with a friend who loves true history and the paranormal, and leave a rating and review. It really helps us get discovered, and it helps boost my morale!  If you’ve enjoyed listening and you would like to support the show, please consider donating through the following, which are also listed at the end of the episode: Venmo- Bethany-Borden-1 Paypal- BethanyBorden865 Buzzsprout website [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/support] CashApp- $SmallTownWhispers Please share your stories with us at porchlightwhispers@gmail.com  or send us a message on the Small Town Whispers Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581954877702]!  You'll also want to head to our Patreon page [https://patreon.com/SmallTownWhispersMidnightSociety?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink] for exclusive footage of the Roff house, bonus listener stories, and more!  Did you know we’re on YouTube?! I dare you to put it on at bedtime. https://www.youtube.com/@SmallTownWhispersPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@SmallTownWhispersPodcast] Don't forget to tell a friend or family member about the show.  Thank you!

A Double Warning

We'd love to hear from you! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/fan_mail/new] A brother shows up at the door with his hat in his hands and a request that sounds simple: “Can Rancy come see Ma?” That one question pulls the Roff household back into the most volatile part of the Watseka-inspired possession story, where every choice feels like it could tip the case toward healing or disaster. Bethany and the Small Town Whispers team walk you through a chapter where love is real, the fear is louder, and the town is watching. We start with a quick, important reminder that this is a fictional retelling loosely inspired by The Watseka Wonder and Dr. E. W. Stevens’ 1878 account, with dramatic liberties taken for storytelling. From there, the tension climbs fast: Henry Vennum worries about a petition to have Lurancy committed, Lurinda Vennum arrives in tears to see her daughter, and the fragile peace at the Roff home feels like it might finally hold. Then Loozie returns to Watseka, and a single church visit detonates into a brutal confrontation that leaves blood on a Sunday sidewalk and a warning no one can pretend they didn’t see. Under the Porchlight Whispers segment, we zoom out into paranormal history and American spiritualism, tracing the Hydesville farmhouse, the Fox Sisters, and the infamous knocks that helped spark a national obsession with séances and spirit communication. Was it trickery, mass grief, or something genuinely unexplained? We sit with the question that keeps haunting every ghost story: if someone you loved could reach back from the other side, would you answer? If you’ve ever had signs you couldn’t deny, email us at Porchlight Whispers at gmail.com, then subscribe, share this episode with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/support] If this show resonates with you, please hit follow, share it with a friend who loves true history and the paranormal, and leave a rating and review. It really helps us get discovered, and it helps boost my morale!  If you’ve enjoyed listening and you would like to support the show, please consider donating through the following, which are also listed at the end of the episode: Venmo- Bethany-Borden-1 Paypal- BethanyBorden865 Buzzsprout website [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/support] CashApp- $SmallTownWhispers Please share your stories with us at porchlightwhispers@gmail.com  or send us a message on the Small Town Whispers Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581954877702]!  You'll also want to head to our Patreon page [https://patreon.com/SmallTownWhispersMidnightSociety?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink] for exclusive footage of the Roff house, bonus listener stories, and more!  Did you know we’re on YouTube?! I dare you to put it on at bedtime. https://www.youtube.com/@SmallTownWhispersPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@SmallTownWhispersPodcast] Don't forget to tell a friend or family member about the show.  Thank you!

A Letter From Heaven and a Warning

We'd love to hear from you! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/fan_mail/new] A child’s body goes still. A household runs out of options. Then an ordinary white envelope drifts down from the ceiling with instructions detailed enough to save a life. We’re back in Watseka, Illinois, digging deeper into the infamous Lurancy Vennum possession and exorcism case, and the moment Dr. Stevens realizes something unseen might be answering him. We track the emotional cost alongside the paranormal claims: the exhaustion inside the Roff home, the relief when “Mary” speaks again, and the heartbreak of a mother lighting a single birthday candle for the daughter who isn’t really there. Outside the home, the pressure turns public. Easter at the Methodist Church brings a petition, threats, and a demand that Lurancy be sent away. Faith, fear, and control collide, and the warning that follows raises the same question Watseka has asked for generations: is this danger, divinity, or something we don’t have language for yet? Then Porchlight Whispers shifts the lens to the present with a Reddit story [https://www.reddit.com/r/Paranormal/comments/1e5xjuz/my_fiancé_is_speaking_to_me_from_the_other_side/] about signs from the other side: a fiancé’s name appearing everywhere, a meaningful song arriving at the exact moment it’s needed, and a dream that asks, “Did you get the message?” We share perspectives from comfort to skepticism, including the uneasy possibility that not every “sign” is what it seems. If you’ve ever felt a message brush past the edge of the explainable, we want to hear it. Subscribe, share Small Town Whispers with a friend who loves true history and the paranormal, and leave a rating and review so more listeners can find the show. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/support] If this show resonates with you, please hit follow, share it with a friend who loves true history and the paranormal, and leave a rating and review. It really helps us get discovered, and it helps boost my morale!  If you’ve enjoyed listening and you would like to support the show, please consider donating through the following, which are also listed at the end of the episode: Venmo- Bethany-Borden-1 Paypal- BethanyBorden865 Buzzsprout website [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/support] CashApp- $SmallTownWhispers Please share your stories with us at porchlightwhispers@gmail.com  or send us a message on the Small Town Whispers Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581954877702]!  You'll also want to head to our Patreon page [https://patreon.com/SmallTownWhispersMidnightSociety?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink] for exclusive footage of the Roff house, bonus listener stories, and more!  Did you know we’re on YouTube?! I dare you to put it on at bedtime. https://www.youtube.com/@SmallTownWhispersPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@SmallTownWhispersPodcast] Don't forget to tell a friend or family member about the show.  Thank you!

Spring Fever

We'd love to hear from you! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/fan_mail/new] Spring has a way of making people bold, and in Watseka it also makes the haunting louder. We pick back up with the Watseka Wonder story at the moment it turns deeply personal: a March 20th, 1878 letter from “Mary” to Dr. E. W. Stevens. It reads like ordinary life, prayer by candlelight, family updates, flowers and buds in the woods, then slips into something chillingly confident about “news from the other side” and a warning that trouble is brewing. From there, the calm breaks. Reverend Baker and Lavinia Durst arrive at the Roff home and push for a confrontation with Lurancy Venom, demanding proof, throwing around sin, and threatening Springfield. The scene becomes a pressure test for every theme that makes this paranormal history so compelling: faith versus control, spiritualism versus respectability, and what happens when a town decides it can police the unknown. Ann Roff refuses to let self-appointed “concerned citizens” run her home, and the encounter spirals into chaos that forces Asa to send an urgent telegram to Dr. Stevens. Then we shift into Porchlight Whispers with a real modern 911 call from Pender County, North Carolina near Moores Creek National Battlefield and the Black River. A driver reports something beating and scratching on the roof of his truck before it vanishes into the woods, the kind of account that instantly calls up cryptid lore for anyone who’s ever wondered about Mothman and other unexplained encounters. If you love true history, folklore, possession and exorcism stories, and firsthand paranormal experiences, hit follow, share the show with a friend, and leave a rating and review so more listeners can find us. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/support] If this show resonates with you, please hit follow, share it with a friend who loves true history and the paranormal, and leave a rating and review. It really helps us get discovered, and it helps boost my morale!  If you’ve enjoyed listening and you would like to support the show, please consider donating through the following, which are also listed at the end of the episode: Venmo- Bethany-Borden-1 Paypal- BethanyBorden865 Buzzsprout website [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/support] CashApp- $SmallTownWhispers Please share your stories with us at porchlightwhispers@gmail.com  or send us a message on the Small Town Whispers Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581954877702]!  You'll also want to head to our Patreon page [https://patreon.com/SmallTownWhispersMidnightSociety?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink] for exclusive footage of the Roff house, bonus listener stories, and more!  Did you know we’re on YouTube?! I dare you to put it on at bedtime. https://www.youtube.com/@SmallTownWhispersPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@SmallTownWhispersPodcast] Don't forget to tell a friend or family member about the show.  Thank you!

"Two 'Crazies' to Contend With"

We'd love to hear from you! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/fan_mail/new] A girl runs barefoot into the March snow because she doesn’t recognize the people calling her “family,” and the whole town decides that panic is proof. We’re back in Watseka, Illinois for a pivotal chapter of the Lurancy Vennum possession story, where spiritualism, small-town politics, and fear of the “abnormal” collide inside the walls of the Roff Home. Then the pressure campaign ramps up: Lavinia Durst and Reverend Baker push to have Lurancy locked away again, only to hit an unexpected wall when Mayor Peters refuses to sacrifice a vulnerable child to public outrage. It’s a rare moment of moral clarity in a story packed with rumors, labels, and power plays. If you want to step beyond the page, you can. The Roff Home is available as an Airbnb, and "Watseka: Beyond the Veil" invites you to spend time at the Old Courthouse Museum or join a limited overnight investigation inside the Roff Home. We also welcome back Neal Gibbons of Graveside Paranormal (Chicago) for Porchlight Whispers, where he shares updates on his seance work and dives into the legends of Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, including the caretaker tale, blue orb sightings, and a photograph that captured a spirit. Subscribe for more true history and paranormal storytelling, share this with a friend who loves haunted locations, and leave a rating and review so more listeners can find us. Watseka: Beyond the Veil tickets are available Saturday April 11th @ NOON CST!  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/watseka-beyond-the-veil-tickets-1985645973559 [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/watseka-beyond-the-veil-tickets-1985645973559] Find out more about Graveside Paranormal at: https://gravesideparanormal.com/ [https://gravesideparanormal.com/] https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=graveside%20paranormal [https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=graveside%20paranormal] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/support] If this show resonates with you, please hit follow, share it with a friend who loves true history and the paranormal, and leave a rating and review. It really helps us get discovered, and it helps boost my morale!  If you’ve enjoyed listening and you would like to support the show, please consider donating through the following, which are also listed at the end of the episode: Venmo- Bethany-Borden-1 Paypal- BethanyBorden865 Buzzsprout website [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2539508/support] CashApp- $SmallTownWhispers Please share your stories with us at porchlightwhispers@gmail.com  or send us a message on the Small Town Whispers Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581954877702]!  You'll also want to head to our Patreon page [https://patreon.com/SmallTownWhispersMidnightSociety?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink] for exclusive footage of the Roff house, bonus listener stories, and more!  Did you know we’re on YouTube?! I dare you to put it on at bedtime. https://www.youtube.com/@SmallTownWhispersPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@SmallTownWhispersPodcast] Don't forget to tell a friend or family member about the show.  Thank you!